According to a recent source, the Cleveland Cavaliers could still keep forward Marcus Morris, who is presently a free agency after spending part of the 2023-24 season with Cleveland.
“According to sources, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, and Minnesota Timberwolves have shown interest,” said journalist Keith Pompey. “The Dallas Mavericks expressed interest before making roster changes.
“For Morris’ comfort level, the [Philadelphia] Sixers and Cavaliers appear to have the best prospects of signing him. Morris joined with Cleveland in March after being bought out by the Spurs. He fit in well and was one of their finest players in the playoffs.
“The Sixers only had a one-year veteran minimum salary of $3.3 million to offer him. According to sources, the Cavs are eager to sign Morris and are willing to pay nearly twice that amount. Despite this, Morris still sees himself returning to the Sixers.
Morris appeared in only 12 of the Cavaliers’ 82 regular-season games, averaging 5.8 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting from the field and 41.4 percent from deep, with 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.
Interestingly, some argue that Morris’ best regular-season performance as a Cavalier came in his debut with the team. Morris scored 14 points off the Cleveland bench in a March 18 game against the Indiana Pacers, shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from three.
Morris surpassed double digits in scoring only once again over the rest of the regular season. In a March 22 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he scored 11 points and made four of his ten field-goal attempts.
Morris’ best regular-season game as a Cavalier was against the Pacers, but he reserved his best performance for the 2024 NBA Playoffs. With Cleveland’s season on the line in Game 5 of their second-round series against the Boston Celtics, Morris delivered a significant scoring boost from the bench.
He scored 25 points and made all but three of his 13 shots from the floor. Morris also made five three-pointers and finished with the second-most points of any Cavaliers player, trailing only Evan Mobley in Game 5.
However, Morris’ scoring surge was insufficient to keep the Cavaliers’ season alive. Boston won the game by 15 points thanks to excellent two-way performances from Al Horford and Jayson Tatum, eliminating Cleveland from the 2024 NBA playoffs.
Morris’ performance in Game 5 hints that he can still score a lot of points. As a result, it would make sense for the Cavaliers to re-sign him before the start of the 2024-25 season.
